SAN MARCOS: City plans park for Richmar neighborhood

A 4.7-acre park planned next to San Marcos Elementary School
will add sports fields and courts to the Richmar neighborhood in
central San Marcos when it is completed around the end of 2012.

"Despite having achieved a significant amount of growth and new
parks built in San Marcos in the last 10 years, the central part of
town hasn't had a lot of land available for park development," said
community services director Craig Sargent-Beech.

The park, to be built with $3.79 million in state grant money,
will include a multipurpose sports field, racquet and basketball
courts, a playground and picnic areas, Sargent-Beech said.

The city received funding for the park from Proposition 84, a
$5.4 billion state bond passed in 2006 to enhance water resources,
flood control, habitat, and state and local park improvements.
Sargent-Beech said the city was one of 62 grant recipients out of
500 applicants. He said San Marcos qualified for the grant based on
criteria that aimed to add open space to dense, low-income
areas.

At the request of neighborhood residents, Sargent-Beech said,
the city plans to build basketball courts, along with racquet
courts that will accommodate both tennis and "pickle ball," a
scaled-down version of tennis played with a hard paddle and Wiffle
ball. It will also include a lighted field for football, soccer or
rugby. The city and school will share use of the field, which will
have artificial turf to reduce downtime from maintenance.

"With the night lighting and artificial turf, we'll be able to
get much more use out of this field than we will out of our regular
fields," Sargent-Beech said.

He said construction drawings for the park would take about six
months, followed by environmental review and community meetings. He
said that construction would take a year and that the park would
open in about two years.

With construction costs dampened by the recession, Sargent-Beech
said, the city anticipates that the park will come in within
budget, but it is setting aside another $160,000 to cover cost
adjustments or upgrades.

"The bidding environment we found to be true has been very good,
and we've been getting some very well-placed bids that come in
below the engineer's estimates," he said.

The elementary school park is one of three new facilities in the
works, which will bring the total number of city parks to 20, said
Holly Malan, assistant community services director.

Buelow Park, also in the Richmar neighborhood, is slated for
completion around January of next year. Named for the city's first
mayor, William "Bill" Buelow, the park stretches along a narrow
strip of Autumn Drive, replacing one that was lost when the
Sprinter line was installed. The $1.5 million, 2.5-acre park will
include a playground, water play feature and basketball courts.

South Lake Park, on Twin Oaks Valley Road, south of Craven Road,
is scheduled to open toward the end of 2012, around the time that
the elementary school park is completed. Emphasizing natural
landscape and quiet recreation, the $7 million, 54-acre park will
include fishing, hiking trails, a dog park and picnic areas.

As the city enhances its park system, it's also hoping to expand
its volunteer ranger service, city spokeswoman Jenny Peterson said.
Sixteen rangers now patrol city parks and trails, working a few
hours a day to a few hours a week, and the city is seeking
applications for new volunteers.

Applicants must be at least 18 and have a valid driver's
license, Peterson said.

"They're on hand to answer questions from park patrons, talk
about rules and regulations," she said. "They're also trained in
first aid, so if someone's hurt or injured, they're there to offer
help."